Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Write What You Know

I'm pretty sure I've touched on the topic of "write what you know" before. My apologies if this post seems repetitive (I hope not!), but a scene I'm currently writing reminds me of this little dictum.

So, you claim you haven't experienced enough things to write about? You can't write about a character jumping off of a bridge because you've never done it?

I've never jumped off of a bridge either, but I can still pull from my experiences to aid in writing such a scene. Writing what you know isn't just literal (though it can be in some instances)--if that were the case, I definitely wouldn't be writing fantasy! Even if you think your knowledge and experience is limited, you have a lot more to use than you realize.

No matter our experience, we all have emotions, and different situations bring different emotions. It's these emotional experiences we need to tap into when writing. Emotions are what we know.

How do you think having to jump off of a bridge into rushing water to escape from a rabid pack of unicorns feels like? You think you might be afraid? Maybe even nervous? I sure would! You'd have to make the decision to risk being skewered by the oncoming horns or risking bashing your head on the rocks below. I'm sure you've had to make a hard decision between two bad choices in your life. So you take what you have experienced and translate it to the situation you're writing about.

Emotions are important to have on the page, they bring your characters to life. And you know emotions. Every human does. So you can write what you know. And don't forget that!

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Some updates.

Sorry for the delayed blog post. I'm still trying to find a balance between tending to the baby and writing life. She is not making it easy by changing up her patterns every couple of days. My first child was so much more predictable! Hopefully, I'll manage to blog once more this month.

I did get some writing done in January though. I play the game Valley of Unicorns, and they ran a short story contest, so I managed to write up a 4000 word story. To view it, you need to register, so it's understandable if no one wants to do so. But if you do decide to register, follow the link to read "Winter Wishes", which is under my forum name, Jadeunicorn.

Also, I finally received my rejection from Harper Voyager for The Mind Behind the Mind. I'm sad it wasn't accepted, but I'm still pleased the novel made it to the final round. It will find a home one day, or I'll make it a home (after I write the other two novels in the trilogy)!

And don't forget about Writing Quest - February. I am still running the event monthly, and they can always be found on my Facebook page.

About Me

Alexa Grave loves to tell stories, but sometimes her characters decide to tell the stories for her. When she's not being dragged around by her characters, she can be found blogging on anything she thinks may interest her readers. Humor is intended in many of her posts, but if you can't see it, please humor her! Oh, and she has an M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction.